research

A cell the size of a parking space is where more than 60,000 prisoners nationwide are being held in solitary confinement. That’s according to a study by Yale Law School and the Association of State Correctional Administrators released Wednesday. And there could be more people who were not counted because states like Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont couldn’t provide data.

Yesterday, a new report was released with suggestions for how Seacoast communities should prepare for the effects of climate change. The document could influence town planning and development in the region for years. The report came from the Coastal Risk and Hazards Commission, which was created by the legislature back in 2013. It had 37-members representing Seacoast towns, state agencies, and private-sector interests. Their report identifies where the Seacoast is vulnerable to the effects of...

Researchers have discovered a link between the mosquito-borne Zika virus and glaucoma. A new report, published by a team of doctors at the Yale School of Public Health and in Brazil, says the virus can cause glaucoma in infants who were exposed during pregnancy.

Homeopathy has been around since the 1700s, but despite having devoted followers, there is no scientific evidence that it works. Soon, packages for homeopathic products might say just that. On Nov. 15, the Federal Trade Commission released an enforcement policy statement about labeling for over-the-counter homeopathic products. Homeopathic treatments have increasingly been marketed in drug store and supermarket aisles, alongside Food and Drug Administration-approved over-the-counter...

As Americans continue to live longer, their chance of developing diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's increases. And family members are often assuming the unpaid role of caregiver, resulting in reduced wages and Social Security benefits.

Infectious diseases are no longer the major killers in the U.S. that they once were, but they still surprise us. According to a report published Tuesday in JAMA , the journal of the American Medical Association, deaths from infectious disease accounted for 5.4 percent of deaths from 1980 to 2014. That's a big change from 1900, when infectious diseases like pneumonia, tuberculosis and diarrhea accounted for almost half of all deaths. The historical decline represents great progress in...

Why are some people more susceptible to addiction than others? How does genetic makeup influence a person’s chances of becoming an addict? This hour, we find out how researchers at Yale University and The Jackson Laboratory are working to better understand the science of addiction.

A large study has produced reassuring evidence about a drug that millions of people use to alleviate pain from arthritis and other ailments. The study found no evidence that the drug Celebrex , or generically, celecoxib, poses any greater risk for causing heart attacks and strokes than two other widely used pain relievers. "What we found was surprising," says Steven Nissen , a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who reported the results Sunday at an American Heart Association meeting in New...

It has been 100 years since the Easter Rising in Ireland -- when Irish nationalists rebelled against the British government in Dublin and other parts of the country in 1916. The rebellion eventually led to Irish independence and civil war.

A large space rock came fairly close to Earth on Sunday night. Astronomers knew it wasn't going to hit Earth, thanks in part to a new tool NASA is developing for detecting potentially dangerous asteroids. The tool is a computer program called Scout , and it's being tested at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Think of Scout as a celestial intruder alert system. It's constantly scanning data from telescopes to see if there are any reports of so-called Near Earth Objects . If it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0FY-fe_hA When scientists recently announced that they had discovered a new planet orbiting our closest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centuri, they also released an artist's conception of the planet. The picture of a craggy canyon, illuminated by a reddish-orange sunset, looked like an image that could have been taken on Mars by one of NASA's rovers. But the alien scene was actually completely made-up. It's part of an ever-increasing gallery of images depicting...

Since March, several infants in Connecticut have died at home daycares – resulting in police investigations and heightened concern among parents. This hour, we talk about child care – many of us rely on it, how do we keep it safe?

Scientists in Michigan have found a new dwarf planet in our solar system. It's about 330 miles across and some 8.5 billion miles from the sun. It takes 1,100 years to complete one orbit. But one of the most interesting things about the new object, known for the time being as 2014 UZ224, is the way astronomers found it. David Gerdes of the University of Michigan led the team that found the new dwarf planet. Gerdes describes himself as "an adult-onset astronomer," having started his scientific...

This is the way the Rosetta ends: not with a bang, but with a slow-motion crash. The historic spacecraft has transformed scientists' understanding of comets over the past two years, as it orbited the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet and sent a stream of images and data back to Earth. Now scientists have steered it into the comet for a "Grand Finale" of data-collection, and Rosetta has lost contact with Earth forever. The spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency ended its mission by...

It has been a common belief that low-emissions vehicles, like hybrids and electric cars, are more expensive than other choices. But a new study finds that when operating and maintenance costs are included in a vehicle's price, cleaner cars may actually be a better bet. The cars and trucks we drive are responsible for about a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions in this country. That's why Jessika Trancik , an energy scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, decided it was time to...

Newly released FBI data show the number of murders in the U.S. rose nearly 11 percent last year and violent crime increased by nearly 4 percent, but crime researchers said homicides and other violence still remain at low rates compared with a crime wave from 20 years ago. Seven cities are largely responsible for the increase in murders last year, according to John Pfaff, a law professor at Fordham University who closely follows crime: Baltimore; Chicago; Houston; Washington, D.C.; Milwaukee;...

This year marks an important milestone in our nation's history -- 35 years since the discovery of HIV/AIDS . This hour, we look back to see how far we've come in understanding, treating, and destigmatizing HIV/AIDS in America.

T his hour, we look at the impact of climate change on New England's native plant and animal species. We talk with scientists and science journalists, and we hear from you . Have you noticed anything different about the flora and fauna in your backyard? And what can historical records -- like the observations of naturalist Henry David Thoreau -- teach us about our changing environment?

Colin has a "pet" raccoon that visits his porch. The raccoon will press her tiny paw up against the outstretched palm of Colin's significant other, which rests on the indoor side of the glass. Eventually, the raccoon gets a bit of food because "she" is too cute to resist. The pleased raccoon now visits on a regular basis. Colin fears this cannot end well.

A more than 160-year-old Arctic mystery has come to resolution: The HMS Terror, a vessel from a doomed Royal Navy exploration to chart an unnavigated portion of the Northwest Passage, has been found, Aleta Brooke, operations manager for the Arctic Research Foundation said. The Guardian, which first reported the story , said the vessel is in "perfect condition." The paper reports: "On Sunday, a team from the charitable Arctic Research Foundation [maneuvered] a small, remotely operated vehicle...